CHGD 36

Chapter 36

*’How should I bring this up…’*

I had opened my mouth, but it wasn’t easy to organize my request and say it properly.

Telling someone I’d just met that I was here to grant their request would only make them suspicious.

As I was lost in thought, my lips twitching, Louis furrowed his brow slightly and spoke.

“By any chance… is this a request from Mother?”

“By Mother, you mean…”

“The mother of all things, with black eyes.”

Just from the epithets, I could tell he meant my mother-in-law.

I nodded with a surprised expression. Louis’s eyes held an unreadable look as he slowly approached me.

“Actually… I did receive a hint from Mother. She said to go to the Count’s study.”

*’So that’s why he was waiting in the study.’*

Now I finally understood why he was alone in the study at this ungodly hour of dawn.

Perhaps calling him at dawn, targeting a time when the Count would be absent, was also my mother-in-law’s deep consideration.

Louis seemed to think the same, as he cautiously asked me.

“If you’ve spoken with Mother, does that mean you know our true identities, Milady?”

“Yes, I’ve seen everything.”

His body flinched momentarily.

“If that’s the case, does the Count know this fact…”

“I’m pretending not to know in front of him, so don’t worry. And even if it’s discovered, I won’t say it was your fault.”

Only then did Louis let out a sigh of relief.

*’He’s easier to talk to than I expected.’*

Even though his expression was stiff, I sensed a peculiar honesty I hadn’t seen in the Count or Loaz.

“I’m relieved. Still, it’s fortunate that Mother is involved.”

“Why is that?”

“Because if it’s Mother, she can deflect the Count’s anger.”

Louis seemed relieved that it wasn’t his fault.

“If you were also summoned by her… what do you want? Do you have a request for me?”

“Well…”

Louis seemed to choose his words, hesitating for a moment. Then he pointed to the sofa in the center of the study.

“First, shall we sit down and talk? It might be a rather long story.”

“The Count will be here soon.”

“It’s alright. He has business elsewhere today.”

Like someone who had always worked here, he naturally took out teacups from the cupboard. He poured hot water from somewhere, steeped the tea, and politely served me.

Somewhat flustered, I accepted the tea and glanced at Jerry sitting on my lap.

Jerry showed no particular wariness toward Louis, yawning lazily. Louis also didn’t seem to pay Jerry any mind.

“First, before I tell you about my conversation with Mother, I should introduce myself. As I said, I am Louis. I manage the castle’s squires.”

“Squires?”

“Yes, there are a total of twenty squires in the castle, including myself. My role is to teach and manage those children.”

It wasn’t unusual for a noble household to have squires. Squires who assisted knights or handled household chores were common anywhere.

But I had never once seen a squire in this castle. The only servants I’d interacted with were the mysterious maids and butlers who took care of my room.

I’d thought it was strange how few people managed this enormous castle—but there were twenty squires.

“…By any chance, are those squires also like you…?”

“Yes, we are all similar beings. That’s why you’ve never met them—they move in the shadows.”

In other words, the squires were also monsters, not humans.

*’Boy and girl monsters… I’d rather not imagine that.’*

Moreover, thinking that there were even more servants I didn’t know lurking in the shadows made me uneasy. Eager not to dwell on it, I changed the subject.

“So, what is your request?”

“…Actually, I was looking for a human I could consult with. My troubles are something I can’t discuss with my peers.”

And so, Louis slowly explained his situation.

Its content was more bizarre than any request I’d heard so far.

“I want to become human. To be more precise, I want to act as a ‘human son.'”

“…Pardon?”

Louis Rozelan.

He had a “human” father.

His father, Deus Rozelan, was a figure who worked in Achaim’s human city and was apparently quite famous there.

His job was to receive the Count’s orders and govern the humans harmoniously. In other words, he was a liaison relaying commands between monsters and humans.

He was a human who knew the monsters’ true nature, but he held deep loyalty to the Count. The Count, finding him commendable, promised him a reward.

At that time, Deus revealed a wish he had kept hidden until then. It was also the reason he had worked for the Count and the monsters for so long.

*’I want to resurrect my son, Louis.’*

That was it—the resurrection of his son Louis, who had died in an unfortunate accident long ago.

*’I will never leave Achaim for the rest of my life. So please, bring my family back to life.’*

Like a wizard in a fairy tale summoning a demon, he made an outrageous wish to the Count.

But no matter how many bizarre miracles the monsters could perform, resurrecting the dead was impossible.

So the Count granted his wish in a different way.

Just like a demon would.

*’I will create a substitute.’*

And so, what was born was the current Louis.

A monster that looked exactly like Deus’s son—Louis.

“Is it… possible to create a human?”

After hearing the entire story, I covered my mouth in shock. It was an astonishing power incomparable to the peculiar magic I’d seen before.

“It is possible. After all, the components of a human are not that impressive. It’s not difficult for the great ones. Incarnations are also born that way. …However, that is only in appearance.”

“Appearance meaning…”

“The soul cannot be created. That is something even the greatest beings cannot perfectly replicate.”

Did that mean Louis was a doll without a soul?

As I looked at him in wonder, he continued calmly.

“That is why the Count inserted me into this body. Into the empty body of Louis, they placed my existence and contracted me to act as his son.”

“Did Deus Rozelan agree to that?”

“Yes, he wished for a son even if it had to be done that way.”

*’He needed a substitute for his son, even like this.’*

I couldn’t imagine what Deus’s feelings might have been, so I refrained from adding any comment.

“The deal with the Count was for me to act as the perfect son by my ‘father’s’ side. Until he was satisfied.”

It was only after hearing the story this far that I understood what he wanted to ask of me.

By appearances alone, he was close to a perfect human. The way he poured tea, his aristocratic speech and manners—nothing was lacking.

The one problem was that his perfection didn’t match his youthful appearance.

*’If I had a child like that… it would be a bit, unsettling.’*

Did Deus truly want such a child? The answer to that question came from Louis himself.

“But my father doesn’t seem satisfied. In fact, he seems to be distancing himself from me even more.”

“By any chance, how long has it been since you became his son?”

“Just over half a year.”

*’He’s endured quite a while.’*

In a way, it was a story with a predetermined ending. A monster turned human and a human with that monster as a child—perhaps you could call it a typical modern melodrama.

“So I wanted to ask you, Milady, a true human. What a perfect son, a perfect family, is like. So that I can learn how I should change.”

“…You haven’t heard about my family background from the Count, have you?”

“No. Besides, that person never speaks carelessly about you.”

With a sour expression, I set down my empty teacup.

A perfect family—that was never a word that suited me, past or present.

*’Well, I suppose I am the only one in the castle they could ask.’*

It was hard to imagine there were any monsters who knew about ordinary families.

And they couldn’t exactly ask a random human who didn’t know the circumstances.

*’A parent-child relationship…’*

Just then, a concept came to mind.

It was something I’d heard until my ears were sore in my previous life. I wondered if it would apply here too, but…

“Have you ever heard of the term ‘filial piety’?”

Still, I couldn’t leave this out of a child’s education.

It was a concept every Korean child had learned at school.

“I’ve never heard of it. Is it a religion?”

“No, it’s a kind of morality. So, you see…”

Never in my wildest dreams did I think I’d be teaching this in another world. Hiding my awkward expression, I began to teach him the principles of filial piety—things an elementary school student would learn.